elegancia

Forms

elegancia f (plural elegancias)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēlegantia (“taste, refinement, grace”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas dates it from 1479, in Diego de Valera, but the CDH has records in cancioneros copied between about 1430 and 1470.^[2][5][6] The Latin noun comes from the adjective ēlegāns (“choosy; refined, elegant”) with the suffix -ia.^[7][1] DICCA-XV derives that adjective from ēligō (“to pick out, choose”), from legō (“to gather”).^[6] elegante is a borrowing of the Latin adjective.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest CDH hits are copies of one poem in the Cancionero castellano de París (1430–1470): Qual discreçion & elegançia ay tan florida “what discretion and elegance is so flowery”.^[5] A poem of Santillana praises vuestra elegançia, and Diego de Valera opens a letter with La elegancia de tu graciosa letra “the elegance of your gracious letter”.^[5] In these texts it is the refinement of speech and writing.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word first meant fastidiousness, then refinement of taste and manners, and grace of style.^[7] Nebrija's Spanish–Latin vocabulary separates elegance como gala, in dress and appearance, from elegance en dezir, in speech.^[9][6] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as finery, neatness and adornment, of a person's attire as well as of language.^[10] He derived it from the Latin verb meaning “to choose”.^[10]

Autoridades put the sense of style first, the apt and grave arrangement of words without affectation, and then beauty, gentility and adornment.^[8] From 1817 the Academy defined it as the beauty of style that comes from purity and good choice of words.^[11] The 1884 edition defined it as the quality of being elegant, with a second sense, a beautiful way of expressing thoughts, used mostly in the plural.^[12] Domínguez in 1846 extended it to good manners in dress, speech and writing.^[13] Tagalog borrowed the word as elegansya.^[1]

Timeline

• 1430–1470 – the Cancionero castellano de París has the word in a poem.^[5]
• 1479 – the DCECH's first record, in Diego de Valera.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija distinguishes elegance in dress and in speech.^[9][6]
• 1583 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City (quadro lleno de elegancia).^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin eligo.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines the elegance of style first.^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it as the quality of being elegant.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being elegant (elegante); elegance, stylishness: Bailaba con mucha elegancia.^[4][1]
2. A beautiful way of expressing thoughts; refinement of style.^[4][1]
3. Elegancia espiritual: nobility of mind that rejects what is low and mean.^[15]

Related words

• elegante
• Latin ēlegāns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 551
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. elegante
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. elegancia
5. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. elegancia
6. ^ a b c d Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. elegancia
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 374
9. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 340
10. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 716
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 343
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 410
13. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 663
14. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. elegancia
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. elegancia